Social security question.... (anniversary, support, raise, trouble)

[loves2read]

Originally Posted by Willistonite

I am 62 now and will retire when I am 65. My wife is 61 and retired. We plan collecting her SS this year when she turns 62. She worked 33 years. Can we collect right and have two SS checks? Her's this year and mine when I retire at 65? If someone has the answer to help that would be great. Thanks

Yes, she can apply and will be considered to be applying for any/all benefits she might be entitled to but u will always receive a reduced amount on her earnings and her amount will be reduced 25% I believe forever.
I believe your wife's widow's pension or yours as survivor after her death might also be reduced--but not sure about that.

Neither of you can file a restricted application (for only spousal benefit vs both self+spouse) or a file/suspend --so YOUR spouse can apply for his/her spousal benefits until you each reach FRA
No married couple can both draw spousal benefits from each other at same time.

Good SS info at site called creators.com
One guy's column about SS: others about retirement and investments
Also PBS website has column w/ questions n answers about SS

[popcorn247]

I retired a few months ago at the age of 63. I am now 64 and have earned no income since my retirement. Am I correct in stating that SS averages my income over a 35 year period and the fact that I am no longer earning any income does not factor into this?

[ilovemycat]

Originally Posted by Willistonite

I am 62 now and will retire when I am 65. My wife is 61 and retired. We plan collecting her SS this year when she turns 62. She worked 33 years. Can we collect right and have two SS checks? Her's this year and mine when I retire at 65? If someone has the answer to help that would be great. Thanks

Yes, she is going to collect on her own work record beginning at 62 + 1 month, unless she is born on the 1st or 2nd of the month. (If she is born the 1st or 2nd of the month, she can collect the month she turns 62. ) When you decide to retire, at age 65, you will collect on your own work record. However, if you know you are stopping work sometime in the year you turn a certain age - say 63,64,65, 66, and you apply in January of that year (instead of 3 months before the month of retirement), very often, after some withholding of benefits, you may be due checks prior to your work stop date.

Here is an example: You are turning 65 in September, 2018 and want to stop work the end of that month. You know you can receive benefits for Oct-Dec, because for one year, and one year only, you are due a check for any month in which you do not work, regardless of how much you made the other months. Ok, so can you get checks from SSA before October? Well, it depends on how much you earn January thru Sept, and how much your SS check is in January of that year (2018) and if you apply in January of 2018, instead of 3 months before October, 2018.

Now, we don't yet know how much a person under full retirement age will be allowed to work and earn in 2018, but we know it is at least $15720.00 (the 2015 amount), so we will use that amount. So, let's say when you work, you earn $50000.00 a year. So, in 2018, in the 9 months you will work you will earn $37500. ( I took $50000.00, divided by 12 and multiplied by 9 to prorate the 2018 earnings.) One caveat: if upon retirement, you will be getting accrued vacation or other pay subject to SS tax, that pay will be credited to the last month you work, September, but it might make the $37500.00 higher- so be sure to include it- unless all your vacation will be taken before October. So, back to the example: You earn $37500.00 pre-October. The first $15720.00 SSA does not care about, so we subtract it. That leaves $21780.00. Of the $21780.00, SSA does not care about $1.00 for every $2.00 of it, so we divide it in half. That leaves $10,890.00 that SSA cares about. For this example, let's say your January, 2018 SSA check amount is $1575.00 a month. $1575 x 9 = $14175 in potential benefits. But, you worked and they have to withhold $10890. That leaves $3285.00 payable to you in 2018, before October. That is 2 additional checks. ($1575 x 2 = $3150.00, plus $135.00 remaining). So, if you apply in January, you would receive benefits for August and Sept, plus of course, Oct, Nov, and Dec. When the year is over and SSA knows exactly what you earned, they even up the record. If your estimate was spot on, and you earned exactly $37500 in 2018, they would then send you the additional $135.00 they had withheld. Now, to get this extra $3285.00, you need to have your reduction factor start with January, 2018, instead of October 2018. That would temporarily be an added reduction of about 4.5%. But, the next year,after you reach full retirement age, SSA does a "ARF" - adjustment of the reduction factor, and they say "how many full checks did Mr. Willistonite receive before he was 66? Well, he got 5 full checks in 2018 and 8 checks in 2019 (because in this fictitious example, I had you turning 65 in September 2018 and 66 in September 2019). So, they would adjust your reduction factor from 20 reduction months to 13 reduction months. Now, you always knew you were getting a reduction factor of 11 months, so for a permanent additional reduction factor of 2 more months, which is about 1%, you gained $3285. For about a $16.00 a month additional permanent loss, you gained $3285. Divide the loss into the gain and you are ahead for 205 months, which is approximately 17 years until you break even.

[ilovemycat]

Originally Posted by popcorn247

I retired a few months ago at the age of 63. I am now 64 and have earned no income since my retirement. Am I correct in stating that SS averages my income over a 35 year period and the fact that I am no longer earning any income does not factor into this?

Yes, it will never go down because your benefits were established when you applied for them. If you haven't yet applied for them, the estimate could go down, but probably not by much. There is a longer explanation of this on another thread, or maybe it was on this thread.

[Willistonite]

Thank you ilovemycat for your comprehensive answer. Always more complicated then a person thinks it will be.
I copied your answer on to Word and saved it so I can have it when I get closer to retirement. My wife and I
will be visit SSA office shortly to so we can her SS lined up but it really nice to be educated going into the meeting.
Happens her Birthday is November 2nd so she will be able to collect her first check in November. Thanks I never knew that. Again appreciate your time to answer my question!

[Willistonite]

Originally Posted by loves2read

Yes, she can apply and will be considered to be applying for any/all benefits she might be entitled to but u will always receive a reduced amount on her earnings and her amount will be reduced 25% I believe forever.
I believe your wife's widow's pension or yours as survivor after her death might also be reduced--but not sure about that.

Neither of you can file a restricted application (for only spousal benefit vs both self+spouse) or a file/suspend --so YOUR spouse can apply for his/her spousal benefits until you each reach FRA
No married couple can both draw spousal benefits from each other at same time.

Good SS info at site called creators.com
One guy's column about SS: others about retirement and investments
Also PBS website has column w/ questions n answers about SS

Thank you for your answer and resources. It will help to have questions and be little more educated
when we visit the SSA office. Thanks again.

[ilovemycat]

Originally Posted by Willistonite

Thank you ilovemycat for your comprehensive answer. Always more complicated then a person thinks it will be.
I copied your answer on to Word and saved it so I can have it when I get closer to retirement. My wife and I
will be visit SSA office shortly to so we can her SS lined up but it really nice to be educated going into the meeting.
Happens her Birthday is November 2nd so she will be able to collect her first check in November. Thanks I never knew that. Again appreciate your time to answer my question!

You are very welcome. The reason a person born on the 1st or 2nd is due a check for the month they turn 62 is because SSA says a person is born the day before their birth date. So, a person born on November 1, SSA states they are born October 31. They get Medicare at 65 beginning October, 1 not November 1. A person born on the 2nd is for SSA purposes born on the first. When SSA made rule changes (I think this one was part of the 1983 amendments) they stated that only people born on the 1st or 2nd (being a full month) can get checks for the month they turn 62. All others have to wait until they are 62 the entire month.

Same thing for children eligible on a worker's record. If a new baby is born on the 1st or the 2nd and say their parent was collecting retirement, disability or if the parent died, the child can get benefits for the month of birth. All other children wait until the next month.

BTW, make sure you call 1-800-772-1213 three months before her birth date and make an appointment. You do not want to walk in without an appointment. You can wind up waiting hours. You can also do your application via a phone appointment, (they call you at the appointed time), but some people like face to face. Because you are a couple, and you will be retiring in a few years, I think an in-office appointment will be best.

[Willistonite]

Originally Posted by ilovemycat

You are very welcome. The reason a person born on the 1st or 2nd is due a check for the month they turn 62 is because SSA says a person is born the day before their birth date. So, a person born on November 1, SSA states they are born October 31. They get Medicare at 65 beginning October, 1 not November 1. A person born on the 2nd is for SSA purposes born on the first. When SSA made rule changes (I think this one was part of the 1983 amendments) they stated that only people born on the 1st or 2nd (being a full month) can get checks for the month they turn 62. All others have to wait until they are 62 the entire month.

Same thing for children eligible on a worker's record. If a new baby is born on the 1st or the 2nd and say their parent was collecting retirement, disability or if the parent died, the child can get benefits for the month of birth. All other children wait until the next month.

BTW, make sure you call 1-800-772-1213 three months before her birth date and make an appointment. You do not want to walk in without an appointment. You can wind up waiting hours. You can also do your application via a phone appointment, (they call you at the appointed time), but some people like face to face. Because you are a couple, and you will be retiring in a few years, I think an in-office appointment will be best.

Thanks we plan on a in-office appointment as we have an office in town. That way we can ask some questions we will like to have face to face so we both hopefully can understand and ask questions.
Thanks again for your help.

[rdflk]

Ilovemycat, I know you were just the messenger... but by any chance do you know WHY they went with this “SSA says a person is born the day before their birth date --which seems to me to be ”crappola" and unneeded, complicated reasoning.

Wouldn’t it be more reasonable (like THAT ever happens with a government program) – to just say you’re due a benefit for the month IN WHICH you turn 62. (whether that’s the 1st or the 31st – you get a benefit starting in/for THAT month. What am I missing about why that wouldn’t just be the simplest, most clear way to go: You turn 61 on Oct 1st...you can get benefits for OCTOBER......you turn 62 Oct. 31 you can get benefits for OCTOBER. OR -- even the Mont AFTER WHICH you turn 62 -- what's so unfair about that. If you turn 62 on May first you get a check in June, if you turn 62 May 30th you get a check in June. BOTH of those people born in May are equally due a check in June.

Why should a person born October 2nd be able to get a benefit for SEPTEMBER – but a person born October 5th have to wait until November?

[ilovemycat]

Well, there are two different issues at play here. SSA always had the policy that a person was born the day before their birthday, which really only made a difference for people born on the first of a month. And, SSA used to pay everyone for the month they turned 62. Those born on the first got an extra check. But, when Congress was actually governing, they would make changes to SSA to fix things, to extend the life of the trust funds, and yes, to save money. Many, many changes and some were quite dramatic. The age 62 one was actually a minor one, as say compared to eliminating benefits to college age dependent childen, eliminating retroactivity for reduced retirement benefits, extending full retirement age past age 65, the WEP, the GPO, going to indexing of earnings. So the one about 62, and it only applies to age 62, that you must be alive the full month to receive that check, it was a relatively small cost saver, but coupled with other cost savers, such as dropping cents and rounding down, all together they preserved SS benefits for many decades.